Tears and Promises
by ChoCedric
Summary: If any onlooker were to gaze into the room right now, they would see a young couple clinging onto each other and crying together, having just survived a terrifying ordeal. Another take on the Malfoy Manor aftermath. Ron and Hermione!


Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Tears and Promises

By: ChoCedric

Ron clung to the girl he loved with every fiber of his being, panic gripping him as he concentrated on Apparating. Shell Cottage, Shell Cottage, Shell Cottage, he thought in desperation.

And then, he suddenly found himself on the ground right outside Shell Cottage. Settling Hermione's weight more firmly in his arms, he cried frantically, "Bill! Bill! Fleur! Help!"

Within seconds, his brother Bill and his wife Fleur came running out of their home, shocked and concerned looks adorning their faces. "Ron, what's wrong?" Bill gasped as he came upon the scene. "Is that Hermione? Is she ..."

"How dare you!" Ron snarled, suddenly feeling rage envelop him. How dare he assume the girl he loved with all his heart was dead! "Just help her!"

"Ron, calm down," Fleur said gently. "Theengs weel be all right."

"Where's Harry?" Bill demanded, looking his brother up and down.

Ron felt even more rage pulse through him. Who cared about that bastard Harry, when he was the one that had gotten them into this situation in the first place? He'd stood by calmly while the love of Ron's life was being tortured, even having the gall to tell the distraught Weasley to be quiet! God, Harry was so dumb sometimes! Who bloody cared about Harry right now? All he cared about was Hermione, couldn't Bill see that? "Never mind bloody Potter!" he bellowed. "Just get Hermione inside!"

"Ron, there's no need to take that tone with me," said Bill, a little anger coming through in his voice. "I need to know whether Harry ..."

"Yes, he's coming," Ron sighed exasperatedly. "NOW HELP ME GET HERMIONE INSIDE!"

Silently, Bill and Fleur followed him into the house, Ron still holding his bushy-haired love in his arms. "Put her in the room you were sleeping in last time," said Bill in a monotone. "Fleur, can you take care of her? I'm going to go check on Harry."

The bloody savior of the wizarding world gets all the attention, Ron thought darkly. Bill didn't seem to care that the girl in his arms might be dying. God knows what that chandelier and those Cruciatus curses had done to her!

Before Ron knew it, he was settling Hermione onto the bed he had slept in for those few weeks that he had been separated from her and Harry. Fleur started taking Hermione's clothes off, and on any normal day, Ron would have been elated to see this beautiful girl naked. But now was not the time to get excited; he might never get the chance to tell her how he felt, how much he loved her, how completely, utterly sorry he was for every damn thing he had done wrong ...

Fleur didn't even question it when Ron stayed in the room with Hermione. She found the essence of Ditany in Hermione's beaded bag, and began to use it on her wounds. Ron felt sick with anger as he saw the slash mark Bellatrix had made with her knife on Hermione's throat.

When Fleur was finished, she smiled softly at Ron and said, "She weel be fine. I checked her over, and zere is no permanent damage. She may have a scar, but her mind weel not be affected."

As much as Ron tried to believe her words, panic still gripped him. Hermione still wasn't stirring, and the longer she went without waking up, the more worried Ron would become.

"She weel be fine, Ron," Fleur said again, reassuringly patting his shoulder as she walked out of the room, leaving Ron sitting on the bed next to Hermione's still form.

After a few minutes of silent waiting, Ron picked Hermione's frail body up in his arms and held her close to him. It was hard to believe that they were safe now, that they were no longer in Malfoy Manor, for it had all happened so quickly. Ron had been moments away from losing Hermione when they had been saved by Dobby.

Flashbacks of the terrible scenes he had witnessed flooded Ron's mind then. He could remember being stuck in the cellar, only being able to listen to her tortured screams. Rage and helplessness had pulsed through him, rage at Harry for being stupid enough to say You-Know-Who's name when he knew it was tabooed, rage at Bellatrix for hurting the girl he cherished more than life itself, rage at Greyback for threatening her, rage at the whole world for being the way it was.

He remembered Bellatrix's cruel voice saying, "We can dispose of the Mudblood. Greyback, take her if you want her." At the image of Greyback biting into her soft, supple skin, bile rose into the back of Ron's throat. Though this last part had never happened, he could imagine it in putrid, vivid detail.

Tears stung Ron's eyes as he stroked Hermione's hair, still holding her close. "Hermione, please wake up," he said desperately, his voice shaking. "God, I'm so sorry, I couldn't even protect you. Merlin, I'm so sorry."

And suddenly, he was sobbing. Tears streamed down his face in rivers, falling onto Hermione's hands. He had never cried so hard in his life, and it was truly like his heart was being ripped out of his body. The fact that Hermione might never open her eyes again filled him with a crushing fear so huge that it enveloped him fully, and pain lanced through his soul like none he had ever experienced.

No matter how hard he tried to control his weeping, he just could not stop. He gripped Hermione even tighter, half-choked apologies and words of self-loathing coming out in between his sobs. And still, Hermione lay still in his arms, completely unresponsive. She was ever so pale, and her eyes were closed. Please, please let her wake up, Ron thought, and he once again felt a bubble of rage bloom within him for Harry, Harry who had put this girl into unnecessary danger.

Then, the door slowly opened, and in walked Bill. Ron tried even harder to stop his tears, but they kept flowing like an endless river.

"Ron," Bill said, and his voice was gentle but stern. "I know you're concerned about Hermione, but I need you to answer a very important question."

Ron looked up, his face red and tearstained. "What is it?" he choked out.

"I need to know what you've been up to," said Bill. "You show up here with someone who's severely injured, and that house-elf who brought Harry with him is dead."

"Dead? How?" Ron gasped, another bout of shock seizing him. "He was fine when he left!"

"He was stabbed in the chest," Bill answered. "Now, what on Earth were you three doing?"

"You know I can't tell you that," said Ron in a fierce whisper. "Dumbledore ...

"I don't give a damn what Dumbledore said!" Bill said angrily. "But fine, if you want to be that way, I'll ask Harry. But don't you want to tell me about the people who did this to Hermione? If you love her this much ..."

"Don't," Ron snarled, fighting the urge to get to his feet. He still had Hermione in his arms, though, so he remained stationary.

Bill got up moodily and stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Ron scowled, trying to get his brother's words out of his mind. He resumed his vigil, praying now more than ever that Hermione would respond to him. Through his confrontation with Bill, he had never stopped crying, and now, the tears came even faster.

He didn't know how long he sat there crying, Hermione cradled in his arms. But suddenly, he felt a hand stroke his cheek. Looking up, he saw the most beautiful and wondrous sight he could ever see: Hermione's eyes were open, and they were looking at him with an expression he had never seen on her face before.

"Ron?" she asked softly, gently wiping tears away from his face. "Ron, I'm okay. It's all right. Please don't cry."

A wave of overpowering relief swept through Ron, and it only made him sob all the harder. After a moment, he realized Hermione's shoulders were shaking too, and realized she was crying with him. If any onlooker were to gaze into the room right now, they would have seen a young couple, holding each other and weeping, for they had just come out of a terrifying ordeal. Both sought comfort in each other, relishing the fact that they were both fine, both alive, both whole.

"God, I'm so sorry, 'Mione," Ron choked out through his tears. "I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you, I was doing everything I could ..."

"Shhhhh, it's all right," Hermione comforted gently, rubbing soothing circles on Ron's back. "You did protect me. I could hear you calling my name, and it helped me to stay sane, gave me a reason to hope we'd come out of this."

"Really?" Ron asked, hardly daring to believe it.

"Really," Hermione answered softly. "You saved my life."

Ron just held her a little tighter, breathing in her heavenly scent. "Merlin, I've been such a prat," he said with venom. "I'm so sorry, so sorry for everything, for deserting you on the Horcrux hunt, for ever yelling at you, for the Lavender Brown thing, for ..."

"It's okay, Ron, you know I've already forgiven you for all those things," Hermione said quietly. "I forgave you a long time ago."

"Thank you," Ron sighed, a few more tears falling from his blue eyes. "But Harry ... Hermione, I'm so bloody angry with him right now. He ... if you would have died ..."

"It would not have been his fault," said Hermione, looking straight into Ron's eyes.

"But he said You-Know-Who's name!" Ron protested. "He was the reason we were even in Malfoy Manor! Bellatrix was going to just let Greyback ..."

"Shhhh, I know," Hermione said, "but everyone makes mistakes. Please don't be angry with him, Ron. He's our friend, he needs us to support him right now. If I had died, I'm sure he would have felt awful, and blamed himself nonstop."

Ron let out a defeated, shaky sigh. Now that the ordeal was over, he was starting to think rationally again. "I know," he said softly. "I just hated to see you getting so hurt, and I wasn't able to do a thing about it."

"Remember, you saved me," Hermione reminded him gently. "Is Harry all right?"

Ron felt a jolt in his stomach, and he knew he'd have to break the news to her gently. "He's fine," he said, "But Dobby ... Hermione, Dobby didn't make it."

Hermione's sobs resumed as she buried her face in Ron's neck. "Oh, God," she wept. "How?"

"Stabbed in the stomach," said Ron. "Probably Bellatrix's doing."

"How awful," Hermione whispered. "Harry will be devastated. He'll need us now more than ever; we shouldn't put any blame on him for today's events."

Ron marveled at Hermione's forgiving nature; she had just survived the most unbelievable of tortures, yet she was turning around and forgiving the person who had landed her there in the first place. Ron squeezed her hand gently, knowing that he must learn to forgive as well, and live by her standards. As he stroked her hair, he said softly, "I promise I won't let you get hurt anymore. I know I've broken promises before, but this time, I swear to stand by you always. If any Death Eater wants anything to do with you, they'll have to go through me first. And I promise I'll never abandon you again."

And suddenly, they found their mouths close together, and then their lips met. The kiss was long and passionate, a kiss born out of need and desperation. They'd just survived a brush with death, and they needed the feeling of human contact at this moment. They both tenderly wiped tears from each other's faces, and smiled tremulously at each other once they finally broke apart. "I promise," Ron repeated as he stroked her bushy hair once more.

There was a knock on the door then, and Fleur made her entrance. "'Ermione!" she exclaimed, looking extremely relieved. Both were glad that she didn't comment on the couple's tear-streaked faces. "Are you feeling any better?"

"I'll be fine, Fleur, thank you," Hermione replied gratefully. "You took care of me, didn't you?"

Fleur blushed prettily. "Yes," she replied.

"Thank you," Hermione said, smiling at the older girl.

"You are welcome," said Fleur. "Harry is digging a grave for ze house-elf. I theenk he may need a leetle help."

"Ron, you should go and help him," implored Hermione. "I'll be fine."

It tore Ron's heart up to leave her side, but he knew that his other friend needed him right now. Once Fleur left the room, he dropped a tender kiss on Hermione's forehead. "I promise," he repeated one more time. "And I love you," he whispered, barely audibly.

Hermione smiled gently at him as he turned away. "And I love you, too," she whispered back as the door closed.

And as Ron went into the garden to help Harry with Dobby's grave, he knew that this time, he would keep his promise, and keep Hermione safe in his protection forever.


End file.
